The Otago Volts overcame the Auckland Aces by 43 runs via the DuckworthLewis system in Invercargill, with a 165 run opening stand between Aaron Redmond and Hamish Rutherford leading the way.
The southerners posted 332 for six in their 50 overs, with Rutherford (108), Redmond (87) and Jesse Ryder (78) making the main contributions. Rain saw the Aces target revised to 279 from 39 overs, but despite a strong finish from the lower-order, the visitors came up short.
It was a record opening stand from Rutherford and Redmond at Queens Park Oval, racing to the 150 mark inside 30 overs. Redmond missed out on bringing up a ton, but Rutherford wouldn’t, crunching 10 fours and three sixes on his way to triple figures.
That start set up the perfect platform for Jesse Ryder to come in and play his natural game and he didn’t disappoint. The dynamic number four faced only 45 balls, but made them all count as he pushed the Volts beyond the 300 mark.
Sam Wells then took over with the balls for the Volts, ripping through the Aces a with a five wicket bag. The top order was full of starts for the Aces, but Wells was responsible for the dismissals of four of the top five batsmen.
At 116 for six it looked like it might be embarrassing for the Aces, but luckily the visitors batted deep, with Donovan Grobbelaar leading the way with 54.
He was aided by cameos from Michael Bates (34) and Jono Sole (24) who made sure the result would look respectable. They were all out off the final ball of the innings for 235.
Wells efforts were backed up by Ian Butler with two wickets, while three others took a wicket apiece.
